U.S. government employee charged in leak of Israel’s plans to attack Iran

A U.S. government employee who worked in some capacity for the CIA faces charges over an online leak of classified documents about Israel’s potential plans for a retaliatory strike against Iran. 

Federal prosecutors charged Asif Rahman, who held one of the highest levels of security clearance, with two counts of illegal transmission of national defense information after classified government records related to Israel’s possible plans for a strike surfaced online, according to court documents and two sources familiar with the matter. Two sources familiar with the case said that Rahman worked for the CIA, but did not say whether he was a contractor or employee.

According to court records, Rahman allegedly illegally leaked the information on Oct. 17 from locations outside the U.S., including in Cambodia. The documents Rahman is accused of leaking are not specified in court documents, but sources confirmed to CBS News the leaked documents pertained to the possible attack plans. News of Rahman’s arrest was first reported by The New York Times.

However, it’s still not clear that Rahman was the source of the classified documents or whether he may have acted alone.

He was indicted in the Eastern District of Virginia last week and is set to make an initial appearance in Guam federal court for removal proceedings Thursday. 

Federal investigators inside the Pentagon and with the FBI launched an investigation last month after documents apparently belonging to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency were posted in a Telegram channel around the time that Israel was considering a retaliatory strike against Iran, sources told CBS News. The documents posted online appeared to be authentic, the sources said.

The Justice Department declined to comment.

Andres Triay and Eleanor Watson contributed to this report.

In:
• Iran
• Israel